Posted on May 21, 2008 | by Norman Jameson RALEIGH, N.C. (BP)–

A church is “foolish” not to conduct background checks on employees and children’s workers, an investigator and former police officer says.

Roger Self, 53, who has been in church for 30 years and in law enforcement for longer, said there is “more criminal activity in the church” than ever before.

With sex crimes surfacing almost weekly in schools and churches not immune, Self, a member of Hardin Baptist Church in Dallas, N.C., said churches and schools must do everything they can to protect themselves.

“The days when nobody would sue a church are over,” Self said.
(more…)

In a background check, it would enable one to look into ones past and know more about their history than what their records hold. With background checks, there is more information that would rise up and any data inputted in the record would be confirmed genuine or true, or it could be proved to be false.

If you didn’t know, hopefully because you do not belong to those few who have faked or kept a few things hidden, there are certain individuals who provided fake information about themselves just to get that job, have a loan, or get a scholarship.

You might think that people who pore over your private past life is an illegal thing to do, well that depends under some circumstances. If you were an employee of some small business enterprise then you ought to allow your boss to dig into your past, whether you are hiding something or not, you are obliged to have your boss know your history, wherever you came from, that is if you want to stay and work in that small time business.

It has been said in the FCRA or the Fair Credit Reporting Act that each employee of the business is supposed to sign a contract stating that he gives permission for them to know much of his past.

Background check, also known as the background investigation, is also needed when you are asking for a loan. Credit cards companies or any company that allow you to secure a bank loan, usually need to know who you are and by that they would want to get to know your credit history.

Of course, they have to make sure that you are not one of those who have a bad credit reputation. However, if you ever did give them false information about yourself and since they are still required to dig your history up and find out about it, you would receive a serious punishment.

There are other means in which background check is not exactly required, though it is practiced, like for a landlord who would want to check on his tenants so that he could assure himself that the tenants he took or would take are the sort of people who are not dangerous or just not the sort of people he would not want living around him.

This is also essential when you are trying to obtain a scholarship in a company or a school. You may give them information that qualifies but of course, in the long run, they have to make sure that what you have given is correct otherwise your scholarship would be revoked.

Though you may see that background checking or investigation may seem to be a violation of your human rights, you also have to think that this checking is also essential in getting information.

Yes, it is true that one should respect anothers privacy and sure we all need that, but background check would just assure your employers or your landlord that you are a safe one. Besides, if you have got nothing that bad to hide then a background check would not eat you up.